The Will of the Ring

Chapter Two

by Makura Koneko

Big Thanks to:

Serenity Raye

Phoenix Wing Star

Llinauri

Be'Jammin (Thanks for correcting me about the number of Rings!)

Rinavariel

star0704

Faye Nightmare

Remiko

The Summer Princess

faith032385

New Rouge

Moon

Angel of Flames

HikariTsuki (^^ Amusing that you'd describe my writing as 'reading like poetry.'….I'm absolutely horrible at poetry!)
 SS Silver AKA Silver Shadows  (*laughs* Yes, those multiple 'Serena/Legolas' repetitions was quite enough. *grins* Btw, I'm a big fan of your fics!!!)

saturnpyroprincess

~Pyro nicole (Serena? Turn evil because she's Sauron's daughter? *contemplates, then grins and walks away, whistling innocently*).

Butterfly

Maria

Rose Yami Hikari

Diablo

One Winged Angel's Lover (^^ You're welcome for the Wizard's name!)

Goddess-of-Light

Jacquelin Benito
Jackie

abyssal chaos

Lacrea Moonlight

Leslie Hellstone, Chamos

And now our Story Continues…

Aragorn burst through the treeline and into their camp. The first thing he noticed was that neither Frodo nor Sam were there. The second, was that neither was one of the boats and a good chunk of their supplies. Aragorn cursed, as Legolas, the golden haired girl in his arms, and Gimli, a very much alive and breathing, and unhurt Boromir leaning on him heavily, came out of the forest and onto the camp ground behind him.

"Frodo took off on his own." Legolas surmised for himself, a scowl on his face. Gimli set about cursing violently in dwarvish, as Boromir hung his head.

"Sam is with him," Aragorn said. "They will succeed."

"They had better!" Gimli grumbled. "But should we not take up after them? The little halfings are brave, but they will not last a day out in the swamps and wilderness of Mordor."

"I think you underestimate them," Boromir managed to speak up, though the effort left him gasping for breath.

"But we must, if nothing else to make sure the Fellowship does not fail!" Gimli argued, his dwarvish face red.

"It has already failed," Legolas told him sharply. "It failed the moment we failed to protect the Ring bearer."

Silence reigned over them, until Aragorn finally spoke up.

"We may not be able to do anything more for Frodo and Sam, but we can resolve to not leave Merry and Pippin to the fate that awaits them at Isengarde."

"Isengarde...?" Legolas repeated. "How do you know they will be taken there?"

"The tracks." Aragorn told them, sheathing his sword. "The ones that retreated all headed back to Isengarde, not to Mordor. I believe Saruman has an agenda of his own."

"You mean he wishes the Ring for himself?" Gimli said in a disbelieving tone. "I find it hard to believe that someone as wise as Saruman would not be fully aware of the fact that the One Ring answers to one Master, and one Master alone."

The Ring may answer to Sauron, but the Moongold answers to Serenity...

The voice was wispy and faint, and apparently heard only by Legolas, for he was the only one that gave any indication of hearing a mysterious voice upon the winds of time...

"We need to get moving before sundown." Aragorn said, lifting the pack carrying the food and hunting tools. "Take only what you can easily carry; we travel light. We should be able to make a few miles, even with Boromir as he is and our...guest."

"You should leave me behind, my lord," Boromir coughed. "I will only burden you. I will catch up one I have regained my strength, and-"

"Dream on, buddy, you know just as well as I do that these pig heads won't leave you behind even if you try and stab them in their sleep," A groggy voice mumbled. All eyes turned the slight form in Legolas's arms. She stirred, and yawned, and looked up at the pale-haired elf with large, blinking, breathtakingly lovely sapphire eyes before turning her gaze to Boromir, still leaning heavily on Gimli.

"Hiya!" She said brightly. "My name's Serena! What's yours?"

"I am Boromir of Gondor, fair lady, and you have my eternal thanks."

"That's nice, though I think I'd prefer a Sundae instead, right about now..." She yawned, then promptly fell back to into the clutches of sleep, her head falling against Legolas's chest once again with a snore.

"What is going on with that Meatball head?" Raye growled as she paced back and forth across Lita's living room. Ami, sitting in a dining room chair that had been pulled beside the couch, was typing away furiously on her mini Mercury Data computer.

"That is precisely what I am attempting to discover, Raye," Ami sighed. "Please, be patient."

"I wonder if this is like that sleep she was put under with that hypnotic youma that attacked Rini that one time, when the Dark Moon came?" Mina suggested. "Or what about that time when Rini was trapped in a nightmarish shadow of her ruined kingdom?"

"That seems to be the case," Ami said slowly. "Or at least something similar. While Serena's physical body is simply in nothing more than a very, very deep sleep, almost more of a coma, really, her mind is...elsewhere."

"What else is new?" Raye snorted. Lita -semi- playfully smacked her upside the head. Ami threw her a glance and Mina rolled her eyes.

"I mean literally, Raye," Ami told her. "Not Serena's usual absentminded 'spaciness,' but her mind, her spirit, her essence is really and truly...not here. Somewhere else."

"Do you mean...'somewhere else on the planet' somewhere else, or 'on another planet' somewhere else, or...?" Mina prompted.

"Or 'in an alternate dimension' somewhere else?" Lita pushed.

"None of the above," Ami said, her eyes widening slightly as her Mini Computer beeped. "She's...Serena, the real Serena, is... Good lord…girls, her spirit, her essence, her mind has been transported one-hundred billion years into the past!"

(Author's Note:

Readers should note at this time that I have absolutely no idea what happens in the LotR trilogy beyond the end of the first movie. I have only read the Hobbit and the first five chapters of 'the Fellowship of the Rings.' The movie, however, I have practically memorized. So, just please remember that all events -save the main idea of them going to rescue Merry and Pippin- after Boromir's 'death' are completely of my own creation.

-Makura Koneko)

Boromir sat against the tree, watching the golden angel sleep. 'Serena' she had said her name was. How fitting. She radiated peace and gentleness. According to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (who were out hunting, fishing, and chopping wood, respectively) he owed his life to this tiny girl. He didn't doubt them. The way she had looked at him, the brief and only time she'd awoken in the past five days, had been with a look of happy satisfaction.

He could tell that all of them, even Gimli, had already become attached to her. And although he had only seen her awake but once, for a few seconds, when he himself had been on the verge of collapsing, no one argued that it was Boromir whom was the most protective. The ultimate big brother, he would probably glare at his own King, Aragorn, if he thought Aragorn gave him reason to think he was having ungentlemanly thoughts towards the petite girl.

But it was almost painfully clear that Aragorn's only romantic thoughts were still, and always would be, centered around the elfen princess Arwen, and so there had been no trouble on that font.

Gimli was still having reservations about the human, him being the one of the group that disliked sorcery the most. But when he'd voiced his concern one night over how long she'd gone without even stirring, his unwilling affection towards the girl became apparent, and he didn't deny it.

Boromir faintly detected the unmistakable sound of a nimble footed elf coming towards the camp. Boromir knew that, had Legolas wanted to be truly silent, Boromir wouldn't have noticed Legolas's approach till the elf was right next to him.

As it was, the arrival of the girl Serena and the unintended mutual protectiveness they all felt towards her somehow managed to link them together as never before, and Boromir was glad for it. He had no idea how he would have won their trust back -he wasn't really even sure if he had- without her.

He wondered, for the thousandth time, why she had been so bent on saving him. Had she known what he had done? She must not have…else she never would have saved him. Where had she come from? Why had she been dressed so oddly? They had, when she'd begun to shiver in the frigid mountain air, dressed her in a spare outfit of Pippin's. How they had managed to do it without touching or seeing anything, was still a mystery to them all.

Amazingly, the baggy black pants, off-white blouse and dark blue vest fit surprisingly well; that's how short and small she was. A little taller, than the halfling's whose clothes she wore, perhaps, but by only half a foot at most.

Boromir watched Legolas as he laid out the fish on a length of smoothed wood and began to gut and scale them. Now, the elf Boromir had some slight worries about. The glances he'd occasionally thrown at the slumbering girl hadn't been as brotherly as Boromir would have liked.

At that moment, Gimli returned with an armload of wood. He set to the task of arranging them in the pit Boromir had dug and lined with sand and rocks. By the time he was almost done, Aragorn had returned as well, and had begun to clean and prepare the two large, fat hares he'd caught for their supper. When he was half done, Boromir fished out a canister of dried, stale biscuits and laid them on a small tray by the fire with a little water in the tray. Within minutes, they were absorbing the warm water and fluffing up.

By the time the hares had been cleaned, the fire was roaring, and Aragorn set to spearing the fish and chunks of hare meat on a stick, and roasted them over the fire.

This was the first time in five days they'd allowed themselves a cooked meal, fearing themselves too close to Mordor to risk it. And although they'd been following the tracks of the Orcs that had taken Merry and Pippin for just as long, they felt they were sufficiently behind them -not necessarily a good thing- that it was safe.

Had they known the -very short- list of things that were foolproof for awakening the golden haired girl that lay asleep on the only mat they'd brought with them, under a blanket made out of Boromir's cloak, they may have risked a cooked meal several days ago. As it was, they were quite surprised when they heard someone sniffing loudly, followed by an even louder growling of a stomach. A stomach that was none of theirs.

"Ai! Sakana! Yum!" In a flash, a blonde blur had planted itself between Boromir and Legolas, a plate, snatched from Legolas's outstretched hand, held out before her. She had a pretty smile on her face, and a light in her eye. From looking at her, there was absolutely no indication that she had been asleep for five days, and had only awoken not even a moment before.

She then registered the surprised stares she was receiving from the four males, and blushed as she dropped the plate and scratched the back of her head, a sheepish expression on her face. Surprise registered in her expression when her hand encountered a long braid, rather than hair pulled tautly aside and up into two buns. Legolas, being the one with the longest hair, had been the only one to have any success with the girl's long tresses. Using a small comb they kept on hand out of habit, he'd just barely manage to coax the impossibly long and thick tresses into a decent braid that went to her knees.

"We had to do something with your hair to keep it from tripping us when we carried you," Legolas told her, picking up the dropped plate and putting a few slices of roasted fish and a biscuit on it, and handing it to her. He hoped she wouldn't blanch at not having a fork… But she only smiled at him.

"Arigatou!" She chirped -they took it as to mean some sort of 'thank you'- and they all blinked as she promptly began 'stuffing her face' with the speed a hobbit would envy. Boromir chuckled.

"Stop staring, you oafs," He laughed. "The girl's been asleep for five days, of course she's hungry." And, he, too, served himself some hare and fish and a biscuit and began eating with his bare hands. As if that act broke a spell, everyone exchanged amused glances, and they all began eating in silence, leaving questions for after the girl had replenished herself.

"Shiagari!" The girl said, raising her hand up as if she had just won a race. Despite none of them having any idea what the word meant, Aragorn surmised that it meant she had finished.

"If the lady is finished, then perhaps we might get some answers?" Gimli suggested gruffly. Serena looked at him with wide, blinking eyes. Her expression made it clear she had no idea what he'd just said.

"Serena?" Boromir asked. Serena jumped when he used her name.

"Nani?" She answered. Boromir frowned. Why was she talking in such a strange tongue, and why did she act as if she did not know Common? She'd spoken it quite perfectly the first time she'd awoken.

"Perhaps something happened to her memory," Legolas suggested.

"Mai oboe no tadashii komaka, arigatou yohodo amata!" The girl said to Legolas, her manner indignant. As if to prove it, she pointed at Boromir and began to talk once again, rather rapidly, using the tone one would use when reciting a list of events when one was bored with doing so.

"Wait just a moment, lass," Gimli growled. Serena jumped and looked at him with wide eyes. "Do you mean to tell me that you can understand the elf, here, but not us?" He was clearly displeased when his suspicion was confirmed by the apparent non-comprehension at his words that was on her face.

"Lady, can you understand me?" Legolas asked her carefully. She turned to him, blinking.

"Hai." She said.

"Does 'hai' mean 'yes?'"

"Hai!" This time she nodded her head firmly several times in an affirmative.

"Ask her how she got all the way up here, and why," Aragorn told Legolas. "Ask her if she was with anyone."

Legolas relayed the questions. Gimli fumed that the elf was the only one able to communicate with the golden haired girl. Boromir wasn't too happy about it, either, but not because Legolas was an elf. He was simply displeased that someone else was able to share something with her that he could not.

"Um…." Serena started, obviously trying to figure out how to explain it so that they could understand. At last she shrugged.

"You don't know how you got here?" Legolas asked. Serena nodded. "So there was no one with you?" This time she shook her head. Her face fell. Boromir reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, and, to the surprise of all, pulled him into a tight embrace, a smile on her face. Boromir, surprised, hugged her back. She released him, but didn't move away.

"Serena, do you remember the first time you woke up, and introduced yourself?" Legolas continued. Serena nodded slowly.

"Do you remember what language you spoke?"

"Japanese, duh." She said.

"Well, we heard you speak Common," Legolas told her. Serena blinked. "Do you know why this is?" She started to shake her head, then stopped. Her eyes widened, and she snapped her fingers as she stood up sharply.

"Hai hai!" She said emphatically.

"You know how we were able to understand you?" Gimli asked. Legolas echoed the question, and Serena nodded excitedly. She held up a finger for silence and motioned for them all to back up. When they did, she held up her hand, and a sphere of gold and pink light swirled into existence in her hand. It solidified into the form of a golden brooch an upturned crescent moon on it -the same sort that had been on her forehead, they all remembered- and golden wings on either side.

"More sorcery!" Gimli grumbled.

"Moon Eternal…Power!" She cried out. They blinked in surprise when they heard the words were in Common. Their surprise at this, however, was nothing compared to the shock that griped them next… An invisible wind began to swirl around her, along with the gold, pink, red, green, blue, silver, purple, aqua, yellow, white, and burgundy sparkling lights that lanced from the flashing upturned crescent moon on her forehead. She was lifted into the air by the silhouette of white, opalescent wings that formed on her back. Her clothing disappeared, but instead of being 'displayed' for all to see, her form was glowing simply too brightly for any 'features' to be distinguished.

Her wings folded in front of her, concealing her for a moment before flashing back, leaving in their wake a silver tiara on her forehead that framed her crescent moon, long, flowing sleeves on her arms, and a three-layer skirt flaring about her slender hips.

She arched her back, a pinprick of light flashing out from between her breasts, over her heart. The locket, the golden heart shaped brooch with a crescent moon on it settled there. The wings on either side faded and disappeared, and the crescent moon turned silver.

The lancing of light split into ribbons that floated down to wrap around her entire body. The light from the ribbons spread like milk all over her. Her entire form flashed once, and when it faded, there, hovering in midair, surrounded by a gentle, soft, pure silver-golden glow, was a truly angelic warrior.

The glow, rather than the wings that sprouted from her back, seemed to lower her to the ground. When the glow faded, she still seemed shine under the moonlight. She opened her eyes, and looked down at herself. She gasped. Apparently her ensemble wasn't quite what she had expected, either.

The three layers of skirts were white-gold, silver, and transparent opalescent, in that order from bottom to top. The fitted bodice was the purest of pearly whites. The sleeves were the same as the ones you'd find on a statue of an angel; full, gathered, with a slit on the top of the sleeve running from her shoulder to the end of the sleeve. It was of the same opalescent, glittery material as the top skirt of the three mini-skirts.

The 'v' neckline was edged in the same one-inch wide white ribbon with gold brocade and silver thread and white pearls that bordered the top of the 'v' waistline skirts. At the bottom of the 'v' neckline was the locket that had formed her hand when she had called out. A small gold heart with a silver crescent moon on top was in the dip of the 'v' at her waist, just below where her bellybutton would be. Earrings that matched the small brooch at her waist dangled from her ears, and yet another was pinned to at her throat in the center of a half-an-inch wide white ribbon. The ends of the ribbons hung down to her waist and blew in the wind.

Her wings, the purest of white, were folded at her back. And at the small of her back was yet another brooch, smaller than the one on her chest, but large than the one below her belly button. And out from under it spilled a multitude of white, silver, pale-gold and cream ribbons that went to her ankles.

Her hair, once a gold that had a silver sheen when under the right light, was now the opposite; silver, that looked pale gold when the moonlight glanced off it just right. Up in two twin silver spherical buns, with not one, but three long streamers of hair coming down from each bun. Strings of pearls were wrapped around each bun and were wound around the middle streamer coming out of each bun.

There were two silver wires coming out from her hairline on either side of he forehead to stop just before either side of her crescent moon, each capped with a pearl carved into an filigree that arched to frame her upturned crescent moon insignia.

The oddest, thing, though, was that she was barefoot. And she didn't seem to mind. She wasn't cold nor did she look like she was beginning to be.

Serena was at a loss for words, and it showed.

"You…did not know this would happen?" Legolas asked, an eyebrow raised slightly. Serena looked up, as if surprised they were still there. She looked sheepish and shook her head.

"Not really," She said. They all blinked, then grinned when they realized they could understand her.

"Hey, you know what I'm saying?" She asked. Legolas nodded.

"Yes, we do," Boromir told her.

"Totally wicked!" She grinned. "It worked!"

"It must have…" Aragorn said. "And tell, just what was it you did?"

"Transformed," She said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing the in the world while examining her new attire. "Although, my fuku changed since the last time I transformed." She thought for a moment. "Then again, it has been almost a year since our last battle…" A shadow passed over her eyes, and she absently, without meaning to, touched her bare left ring finger… She shook herself, and her dazzling smile was in place once more.

"Anyways," She popped back to the present on her own with a sunny smile. "I tried to think of what was different from now and then last time I said anything, and the only thing I could think of was that I'd just used my powers," She winked at Boromir. "So that meant my moon symbol was probably still on my head. "She tapped the upturned crescent moon sign on her forehead. "See? I thought about turning into Princess Serenity, but that would have take too much of my strength, and I don't have End-" She stopped, her face going blank for the briefest of instants before she continued. "I don't have the Senshi here to support me, so I opted for the next best thing." She struck a pose. "And voila!"

She didn't notice the dark shadow that flashed over Aragorn and Boromir's eyes for the briefest instant when she mentioned 'Princess Serenity.'

"Why do I get the feeling maybe we should have let her think we understood her before she…transformed?" Gimli grumbled.

"What, afraid of competition for the title of 'fastest talker?'" Legolas taunted in a friendly tone. Gimli grumbled under his breath as his face turned red.

Serena had returned to examining her new outfit, and she frowned. "How come whoever designed this fuku couldn't have done my Eternal fuku, too? This one is a lot cooler…and it actually has some color coordination going on… I'm sorry, but red, blue, and pink just don't cut it. Too flashy, and they definitely don't identify with the Moon."

And she honestly thought so, too, as she didn't notice the four males before her exchanging amused looks. She relished the sensations she was getting from being in her new transformation…she wondered what had triggered it. New, advanced forms of Sailor Moon had always come when times were most desperate. And even then, a lot of the time she hadn't gotten a new form, just advanced to Serenity just long enough to seriously kick some bad guy butt.

That was another thing…this form…it felt like she was both Sailor Moon and Serenity. She liked it. She liked it a lot. Serenity was supposed to be a beautiful, poised, elegant, regal, wise Princess. Sailor Moon was supposed to be a serious, resourceful, brave, graceful warrior. Serena had always had trouble understanding how she was supposed to merge and be two such conflicting identities at once…

But this form…it somehow blended Serenity, the Guardian of the Moon, and Serena… She liked it. She liked it a lot.

And as for her locket, the only thing that was different was the wings were gone, and the crescent moon on it was silver. She reached up and touched it…

Suddenly a hauntingly beautiful melody began to play itself as the locket on her chest opened up on it's own, spilling a beam of silver light to pour out from the Silver Crystal within. The beam of light settled on a place in the clearing that was their camp. An image began to be formed inside it. The image flickered, then became visible, transparent, but distinguishable.

Serena gasped

"Mother?"

To Be Continued…

Heh…I know…I'm evil… And yes, I know, 'Another chapter? Does this girl even have a life?" And the answer is, yes another chapter, and no, I don't really have a life to speak of outside reading and writing, dancing, shopping, and…yeah, shopping, that's about it. *sweatdrop*

Anyhoo, hope you guys are happy; you get your Serena/Legolas. Since I already had the next two chapters written, its gonna take some serious editing on my part, but…hey, what can I say? I'm a slave to my fans.

I would like to address 'Nica's request. She asked for a Rei/Legolas or Ami/Frodo. I kinda wanted to the Rei/Legolas, but that would have distracted too much from Serena, so I'll probably use that pairing at a later date in another fic. ^^ But the Ami/Frodo one… *walks away whistling*

Ja!

Hope Makes the Universe Shine,

Makura Koneko